Cloud Smiles
by Asterxia Sy
Summary: The residents of 7th Heaven wish a Happy Father's Day to their chocobo-haired hero... Cloti family fluff! Oneshot


A/N: Okay so I know that Cloud and Tifa never got together in the game and everything but this is based on the Cloti belief that they got married and adopted Denzel. Just to clear that up 'cause I know there was some confusion with my Mother's Day fic. Anyway, enjoy!

I DO NOT own Square Enix.

**Cloud Smiles**

Sunlight peeked through the blinds, illuminating the woman's face. Garnet eyes fluttered open and Tifa Strife gave a small yawn. Loud snoring caught her attention from the other side of the bed and she turned to face her husband, stifling a giggle. He always snored after a long delivery day. She lay for a few minutes, watching the blonde sleep. _He looks so cute and helpless…_ She thought, smiling. Eventually her body told her to move and leaving a gentle kiss on her husband's nose, she got out of bed.

Dressed and fully awake, Tifa left the room quietly, with the intent of heading downstairs. However she was stopped when a word that most children wouldn't know floated into her hearing from the direction of her son's room. Shaking her head, she walked up to the room, pushing the door open gently…

* * *

The creak of the door made Denzel look up. He smiled sheepishly at the sight of his mother, hands on her hips, a look on her face that said, "Okay Denzel, what are you up to?" In response, Denzel held up the source of his confusion, a leather mess of a bundle. Tifa shook her head and walked over to the boy. "What is that Denzel?"

Denzel made a face, scooting over on his bed to make room for Tifa. "It's supposed to be a wallet, but it didn't really work out…"

Tifa looked at her son warmly, planting a kiss on his head making him blush. "Well, let's see if we can't fix it."

An hour later, Denzel proudly held up a decent looking wallet, Tifa putting away sewing materials. She watched her son happily as he carefully put it in a box and wrapped it, giggling at his choice of paper, chocobos danced across the package as he secured it with tape. _Perfect… _She thought.

Together they tiptoed downstairs, Denzel placing the present on one of the bar tables. Tifa reached behind the bar and pulled out her own package, wrapped in Mako blue paper. She had struggled with what to get for her soft spoken hero, a wallet was already Denzel's idea, a phone he already had, a watch he wouldn't wear, Fenrir was in perfect condition, as was his swords. She had consulted a few friends, Barrett suggesting a new brain, Vincent shrugging and pointing to his gun and Cid hinting about something that shouldn't be mentioned in front of children. She finally decided to try her hand at making something and managed to produce an omamori, a Wutanese lucky charm, surprisingly enlisting much help from a certain hyperactive ninja. She had hidden a note inside as a prayer for his continued safety and happiness as well as painstakingly stitched the cloudy wolf motif on the front. It was a symbol, a tangible reminder of the promise they had made; similar to the ring she had received from him. She smiled at the memory, placing her gift next to her son's.

Denzel, carefully positioned the presents then ran behind the counter to help his mother prepare breakfast. He watched eagerly as Tifa put flour, sugar, milk, butter, blueberries and other ingredients on the counter. "Are we making blueberry muffins Mom?" He asked, his stomach already growling. Tifa smiled and nodded, watching Denzel's face light up with amusement. She placed a blue bowl in his hands. "Let's get to work."

* * *

The angel watched the mother and son, a smile on her face. A giggle escaped her lips as the son carefully poured flour into the bowl, still getting some on his nose. Her green eyes softened as the mother gently wiped it of his nose. The angel sighed, resting her chin in her hands as she lay on the green surface.

"Perfect, isn't it?" The male angel came to sit next to the girl, leaning back on his hands.

The girl turned to grin at her blue-eyed companion. "Yeah."

"Now if only Spiky would get out of dreamland…" He was punished with a light slap from the girl.

"Let him sleep. He's tired. Besides, once Tifa finishes those he won't be able to resist the smell. She could always cook better than me."

The boy ruffled his spiky gray hair. "Wish I could've tasted your cooking."

The girl laughed, her long brown braid tossing in the air. "Do you? I think you would've regret that statement."

Zack pulled his girlfriend into an embrace. "Was it really that bad?" Aerith snuggled into his strong arms. "Yes, but with you being a First Class SOLDIER and all; I think you could've handled it."

* * *

Tifa shut the door to the oven, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She took off the oven mittens and grinned at her son. "Great job Denzel. I think these will be perfect."

Denzel beamed. He looked at the clock, 9:00. "When's Dad gonna wake up?"

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know. He got home pretty late last night. He must be tired." She smiled as Denzel gave a disappointed sigh. "Why don't you write him something?"

Denzel made a face. "Yuck, poems are girly. Dad wouldn't like that."

Tifa gave her son a look. "No, not a poem. Just something that shows how much you love him. Better than sitting and waiting for him to get up, don't you think?"

Denzel gave this a thought, then quietly tiptoed upstairs to get paper and a pencil. Bringing the materials downstairs, he started to write.

* * *

Tifa wiped the counter, glancing up at her son, working steadily, wondering what he was writing. Like his father, he had some difficulty expressing his feelings in words. However, his teacher had said he was an extremely talented writer and after reading some of his work, Tifa was inclined to agree. Her curiosity deepened, hearing the furious scratching of lead on the page but she kept it to herself, it was for Cloud after all. She looked up at the stairs. "Poor Cloud, you must be so tired."

* * *

He was lying in a field, his eyes closed, the wind playfully flitting over his face. He sighed in comfort, free of burden, guilt and pain. It had been a while since he had felt this way. He thought happily of his wife, her beautiful face and smile and his son, the way his laugh and grin melted all his fatigue and worries away. Life couldn't get any better. He breathed deep, smelling blueberry muffins?

Cloud's eyes flickered open and he yawned, covering his eyes from the bright sun. He sniffed again and smiled, thank goodness the smell hadn't been part of his dream…

* * *

Denzel put his pencil down with a satisfied grunt. There, all his feelings and thanks were now down on this slightly curled piece of loose leaf paper. He looked up at his mother and grinned as she came up from the oven holding a batch of perfectly golden muffins.

Tifa laughed at the hungry look in her son's eyes and placed the tray on the stove. She had grabbed a spatula to ease out the muffins when she felt strong arms around her waist and a head of soft, spiky hair lay itself on her shoulder. Her heart gave a little leap of joy and she relaxed into the embrace. "Morning Cloud."

"Morning Tifa." A voice mumbled into her shoulder. She giggled.

"Happy Father's Day Dad!" Cloud released his wife to embrace his son and ruffle his hair. "Morning Denzel."

Denzel grunted, swatting his father's hands away from his head. "Finally you're up."

Tifa laughed as Cloud yawned. "Not yet, it seems." She gave her husband a little push towards the table. "Go, your son has written you a 'not poem'."

Denzel made a face at his mother and rushed to the table to shove the paper into Cloud's hands.

Cloud started reading, a sensation of joy, gratefulness and embarrassment filling him as he read. When he finished, he could feel the beginning of tears forming at his eyes. "Thank you." He croaked.

Denzel blinked. Was Cloud crying? His father, his hero, crying? He grabbed his father's arm. "Dad, you okay?"

Cloud nodded, wiping his eyes. Tifa watched, her own tears forming. Seems she was going to have to find a way to read that piece!

* * *

After half the muffins were gone and three empty milk glasses sat on the table, Cloud began unwrapping the packages on the table. He chuckled at the wrapping paper on Denzel present before carefully unwrapping it. His eyes lit up when he glimpsed the wallet. "Cool, I need one of these." He said, taking it out and examining the handiwork. "Did, you do this Denzel?"

Denzel blushed. "Yeah, with help from Mom."

Cloud turned towards his wife. Tifa smiled. "Only a little."

He hugged the boy warmly. "Thank you, it's great." He reached towards the other gift and Tifa held her breath.

Cloud gasped softly when his eyes met the gift. The tears he had managed to hold back earlier came sliding out.

Tifa watched her husband cry in amazement. Suddenly she was being crushed in a fierce hug. She embraced back, inhaling the smell of grass and flowers from Cloud's shirt. "I love you."

Cloud composed himself and stepped back, looking at his family. These people who he had never deserved, who had stood with him through all the pain and were now giving him happiness he never thought possible. _My family…_ The words had a nice ring to it.

And he smiled, his heart singing, for the first time…

* * *

**My Dad**

My dad isn't big, but he is strong.

He's quiet and gets embarrassed easily, but he's always there when we need him.

He always keeps his promises, and he never loses in a fight.

He's a hero because he saved my life.

I like spending time with him because he makes me feel important.

I like his hair, because it's like a Chocobo.

I like his eyes because they make my mom smile.

I like his sword and his bike because they're cool.

But most of all, I like his smile.

Because even though it's small, it has more warmth than the sun.

- Denzel Strife

* * *

A/N: Ah fluff, such a wonderful thing... Thanks for reading! An acknowledgment; this fic was inspired in part by the wonderful fic Full Circle by NRGburst. If you could spare some time to review that would be great! Happy Father's Day everyone!


End file.
